The Bespectacled Crocodilemanagement Principles1

The Bespectacled CrocodileManagement principles1

“THE CROCODILE DOES NOT
NEED TO BE SHOWN HOW TO
FIND THE MARSH” /
(Woloff proverb)

The Bespectacled Crocodile

by John Hall

Instructional modules for training pastoral communities in Holistic Management

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INSTRUCTIONAL UNIT SIX

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

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Introduction to the “management principles” instructional unit: (5 minutes)

Bring the group over to a brick dwelling near the meeting place and observe how it is constructed :

Why do people build walls by putting one brick atop another?

Can a house be built with only one or two bricks?

Can one stop construction after having placed two or three rows of bricks and consider the house to be finished? Why not?

Now explain that the next five training sessions will be devoted to principles that must be thoroughly understood if one wants to manage natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Display the “management principles” icon (a section of brick wall, as it happens) and explain why this image was chosen;

Conclude the introduction, stating that they will begin by identifying plants that they would like to see re-appear and/or proliferate on the grazing lands, in accordance with the community’s landscape goals.

MODULE # 24:

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

PLANTS TO BE PROMOTED

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PEDAGOGIC ANALYSIS

Desired situation

The herding community chooses the forage species that it wishes to promote, and manages them in accordance with this goal.

Current situation

In most cases, herders regard the decline of some forage species, with the gradual disappearance of perennial species and their replacement by annual species, as an inevitability over which they have no control.

Disparity between current and desired situation

Lack of understanding of the phenomena of succession and regression ofvegetation.

Objectives of the module

By the end of the training session, participants shall be able to identify the forage plant species whose expansion would improve the quality of their grazing lands, and shall incorporate them into their future landscape goal.

LOGISTICS

Target group:

The choice of the target group is left up to the community and the outreach team.The target group must include representatives of at least the following:

the pasture management committee

auxiliary herdsmen

shepherds or cattle drivers

Exercise used by the module:

Brainstorming;

Evaluation grid along the lines of the “pocket chart” (Srinavasan, p.93)

Graphic supports::

Folder # 24

Approximate duration of the module:

1 hour

A participant sketches the vanished plant that he would like to see return to the grazing area. This drawing will be posted on the "pocket chart".(33/17)

IMPLEMENTATION

1. Introduction:

This introduction consists of recalling two earlier modules: namely, the “Landscape goal” module (# 7) and the "Ecological succession" module (# 11).

Indicate that the discussion will once again focus on the goal that the community set, at the very beginning of the training session, in terms of the future landscape that it would like to promote.Ask participants to summarize what was envisaged at that time (or, if necessary, bring out the community goal formulation form that was supposed to be filled out (in the local language) at the end of the second instructional unit on the “holistic goal”.Ask participants to reflect a bit and imagine what their future landscape might look like.The following questions may be asked:

Which herbaceous annual species do they want to see in their landscape?

Which herbaceous perennial species do they want to have in their landscape?

Which shrubs would they also like to see develop?

Ask participants if the plants that they want to promote are among those that they identified as “vanished species” at the end of the “ecological succession” module (#11).

1. Brainstorming on plants to be promoted:

Remind participants that when they agreed on their “landscape goal”, they included a few species of plants, and indicate that the time has come to see what is feasible.Among the species cited, which ones would the participants like to promote, i.e.., which ones would they like to see re-appear and/or develop?

An alternative to the use of ready-made images of plants is to ask participants to sketch the plants that they designate.Even if the drawing is clumsy, it will be more readily accepted if they have drawn it themselves.

Be sure to emphasize the promotion aspect.Allow participants discuss for five minutes, and ask them to name the species.Then place pictures of the six broad plant categories available on the pocket chart, which is on the mat in front of the participants.For each species cited, ask participants to choose the picture that most closely resembles the species cited (even if there is not much resemblance).Keep these images beside you for use during Step 5.

1. Brainstorming on plant selection criteria:

Ask participants: why would they like to resuscitate the plants that they cited, and not others? What would these species contribute that is particularly important to them?

Participants will probably put forth some arguments in favor of the plants of their choosing.If they do not, stimulate discussion with some questions, such as :

Are they good food for livestock?

Do they help prevent soil erosion?

Do they continue to grow once the rainy season is over?

Are they adapted to local conditions and drought-resistant?

Are they also useful to people (e.g., by supplying fruit, seeds, medicines)?

Do they produce abundant fodder?

For each idea, show the corresponding image, which is also contained inFolder # 24. (Remember to include an image showing the plant’s adaptation to local conditions).

If other reasons are given, quickly sketch a new image to represent them.

The exercise will probably be halted after 5 images or so, after which the pocket chart (Step 5) would become too cumbersome to handle.

1. Pocket chart: choice of plants to promote

Explain to participants that at this point they are to consult the first list they made, i.e., the one listing plants to be promoted. Ask this question:

“Do the plants that they have chosen allow them to achieve the landscape goal that they set for their community?”

Explain that the idea is now to proceed with an evaluation and a plant-by-plant selection, using the pocket chart.

Attach a large sheet of paper, on which the pocket chart arrangement has already been drawn, to the flip-chart easel.(It is not necessary to attach the pockets themselves; squares drawn on the paper will suffice.)

Spread out the images of the potential plants along the vertical axis, and the selection criteria along the horizontal axis.

Next, ask participants to study the table carefully, to discuss amongst themselves for a few minutes and to make a decision about each plant according to each criterion.

Ask a participant to play the role of "secretary", and if the plant meets one of the selection criteria, to check off the corresponding box.

Proceed in this way for each plant and each criterion, until all have been examined.

Let participants contemplate the results for a minute.

It sometimes occurs that the participants feel that all the plants meet all the selection criteria equally.In that case, carry out another selection round, this time asking participants to use a different color felt marker for the plant which, for a given selection criterion, is better than all the others.

1. Utilization:Plants to be promoted according to the landscape goal

Encourage participants to ponder the results of this exercise by asking, for example, the following questions:

Are you surprised by the results? Would you have chosen them without going through the selection criteria?

Do the species really correspond to your vision of a future landscape?

Have you ever tried to “promote” a given plant, i.e., have you ever used grazing lands with the intention of fostering the development of a given species ?

Have you ever heard of a project or program that tried to do this?

What were the results? In your opinion, why did this attempt succeed (or fail)?

1. Transition to the “minimum resting time” module

If participants have no further questions or comments on the results of the exercise, announce that it is time to go on to the next session, emphasizing thatthe first "brick” of the principles of management has been put in place.Indeed, they have now chosen the species to be promoted in accordance with their objectives and their landscape goal.Display the icon representing the "plants to be promoted" module and place it next to the first one.

To expand on the metaphor of the brick wall, if we want to have a solid house, we must of course use sturdy materials, just as one must be able to count on productive and hardy fodder species in order to have a stable ecosystem.

We shall now study some concepts that will help manage grazing lands in such a way as to promote the forage species they have chosen .

NOTES TO THE FACILITATOR

During the exercise, and upon its conclusion, stress the difference between annual and perennial plants, and their respective characteristics.Explanations will be provided, when needed, by the resource management specialist of the outreach team.

It must also be clearly understood that, in encouraging the re-emergence of perennial plants, for example, one is not eliminating annuals which, as we shall see, are very resilient and can be relied upon to continue to develop.

MODULE # 25:

MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES

MINIMUM RESTING TIME

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PEDAGOGIC ANALYSIS

Desired situation

The herding community plans the utilization of its grazing lands.

It implements this program on the basis of its own observations of the evolution of vegetation over time.

Current situation

Herders’ observations of the condition of vegetation do not affect the way in which they manage their herds and grazing lands.

Disparity between current situation and desired situation

Herders do not seek to determine the minimum resting time (mRT) of forage species that they would like to resuscitate.

In any case, their individual grazing strategies do not allow them to respect these mRTs.

Objectives of the module

By the end of the training session, the target group shall be able to determine the mRTs of the plants it would like to resuscitate, during their growing season (i.e., the rainy season) as well as during their dormancy (i.e., the dry season).

LOGISTICS

Target group:

The choice of the target group is left up to the community and the outreach team.The target group must include representatives of at least the following:

the pastoral management committee

auxiliary herdsmen

shepherds or cattle drivers

Exercise used by the module:

Semi-structured exercise based on a sequence of 10 illustrations.

Graphic supports::

Folder # 25

Approximate duration of the module:

1 hour

Participants attentively study the accordion poster illustrating the mRT and the MGT.(34/02)

IMPLEMENTATION

1. Introduction:

Approach this module by emphasizing that, among the plants that the herders would like to promote in their future landscape, some have already been gone for years.Ask participants the following questions:

Why did they disappear?What contributed to their disappearance or caused it? Drought? Overgrazing? Human intervention? Other factors?

How can one promotethe species considered important to the community landscape and to its specific village land management objectives? Can one, for example:

• cultivate these plants over large areas;
• propagate them in nurseries;
• use fertilizer;
• protect them from animals;
• keep outsiders from using the grazing lands;
• harvest them, etc.

1. Recalling the “Time tool” module

Acknowledge that there are indeed many technologies that could foster the multiplication of this plant, but indicate that, in the next two modules, the discussion shall be limited to the care that can be taken in exploiting the plant itself, as mentioned in the “Time” module (# 14).

3. Use of the 10 sequential images

Display the series of 10 images (plants/cow) contained in Folder #14 for this module, and ask participants to look at it carefully and interpret what it shows.

Suggest that they observe in particular what happens in the aerial part of the plant, as well as at the root level.Indeed, the roots play an essential role inthe processes of:

reconstitution of the aerial portion when the plant is grazed;

accumulation of reserves when the plant is protected from animals.

One might then ask the following questions, for example:

With reference to the “time” module , what happens when one exposes the fodder plant to continuous grazing by animals? (Answer: It will obviously become exhausted and disappear);

From the time that the plant ceases to be exposed to grazing, how much time does it need to recover its original size and for its roots to reconstitute their reserves?

Be sure to show that this recovery time is represented in the sequence, by images “without the cow”, i.e., that we are talking about the time elapsing between when the cow stops grazing (4th image) until the cow is shown once again standing over the plant which has regained its original size (8th image);

Explain that they shall call this interval the “minimum resting time”, or mRT.(In order to facilitate the reading, the m of “minimum” is written in lower case, while the M of “Maximum” is written in uppercase). Ask participants the following questions:

According to their observations, is this mRT is the same for all plants, or does it vary depending on the forage species (e.g., herbaceous, shrubs, etc.);

Did they observe that the mRT is constant, or that it varies depending on the season (e.g., growth in rainy season and dormancy during the dry season)?

Do they know of other situations in which one uses a similar concept (e.g., cases of people convalescing after an illness in order to regain their strength and reserves, a bit like the plant in the sequence of images);

Have participants observe that there is a relationship between the actual recovery time, the intensity of grazing, and the amount of time the plant needs to return to a condition in which it can be grazed again;

When a plant is grazed excessively, does it take more time to recover than when it was grazed more lightly ? Why?

1. Determining the rainy season mRTs of species chosen

Return to the images of species that the community would like to promote, and that were posted on the pocket chart at the end of the preceding module. Have participants discuss for a few minutes and ask them to come to an agreement amongst themselves on the duration of this mRT (expressed as a number of days).

For the first species selected, how many days must elapse during the rainy season between the time when it stops being grazed and the time when it has completely recovered?

Next, ask the “village secretary” to record (in the local language) the number of days needed for this recovery next to the image of the first plant.

Ask the same question in turn for each of the other selected species, and note the duration of the mRTs next to the corresponding illustrations.

Even during the rainy season, when vegetation grows more quickly than during the rest of the year, the plant needs time to compensate for the losses due to grazing and to regain their initial size. During the rainy season, the mRT is a few weeks(20 to 30 days being the commonly advanced figures).

1. Determining the dry season mRTs of species chosen

Ask participants if the Minimum resting time (mRT) is the same during the dry season as during the rainy season.(Answer: Obviously, it is much longer, since plants grow more slowly during the dry season than during the rainy season.)

Allow the participants to agree on the dry season mRT for each species chosen, and record these mRTs on the table of folders, as was done under Step 4 above.